Universe: Kyochi's Experience
by SirAuruda1st
Summary: {OC-INSERT/AU} What if a different boy named Maximus Kyochi was the son of Rose Quartz and was being taken care of by the Crystal Gems? OCxHarem (OC x Garnet, [Ruby, Sapphire], Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, Peridot)
1. Gem Glow

**_DISCLAIMER: This is a non profit fan-made parody story. I do not own *Steven Universe*, it is owned and copyrighted to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. Please support the official release._**

 **Here are a few writing examples;**

 **"talking"**

 **'thinking'**

 ***sound effects***

 **"*making sound effects*"**

 **(Author's note or short note during story)**

 **Here's the full description of the story.**

 **A Steven Universe OC AU story. What would happen if Steven Universe was never the son of Rose Quartz? What would happen if Maximus Kyochi was the son of Rose Quartz instead? What if instead of Rose meeting Greg and him falling in love with her, it was Markus Kyochi (Max's dad) who met and fell in love with Rose? And what do you get? Max, but as a half human, half Gem! Just like Steven, he can summon a shield, and in this AU, he can also summon a sword! Max still acts like he does in the story, 'Steven Universe: Kyochi's Experience', and is still as smart as he is in the story. Just like Steven, Max believes in a relationship between Gems and humans, and he is the one who makes those relations. Also, since the Gems don't believe in such things as a 'safe' mission, Mark wasn't all about safety like him and his brother, Johnathan (Max's uncle). Also, in this AU, Max loses his father as a result of a car crash at six-months old. Now that the young half-Gem has no father nor mother, the Gems and John are always there for Max when he needs them. Also, Max will have Rose's gem located on his chest. And one more thing, in this AU, Max will have a harem of Gems. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

 **(Possible) Harem members: Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, Peridot, Jasper**

 **Follow the story of Max Kyochi and the Crystal Gems as they have great, amazing, and exciting adventures together! Laughter will be shared and tears will be shed.** **He would be willing to do anything it takes to protect his friends, family, and loved ones. Even if it costs him his life!** **But when evil is on the rise, can you count on Max to help save the day? Find out right now!**

 **Written by: Austin "SirAuruda1st" Bass**

 **Genre: Adventure,** **Drama,** **Romance, Sad, Dark, Humor, Friendship, Slice of Life**

 **Rating: Teen-Mature**

 **So without further ado, let the story began now!**

* * *

Maximus Quartz Kyochi's Experience

By; Austin C. Bass

* * *

Gem Glow

"What? Oh no!" Said a young boy's voice from inside the Big Donut, the local donut shop in the town of Beach City. "Is this true?!"

The young boy was fourteen years old and is shown wearing a green hoodie with a silverish gray overcoat on the outside. Inside the jackets, he wore a red shirt with a yellow star in the middle and a pair of dark blue jeans. He wears a pair of red and blue shoes with white stripes on the bottom of each one with white shoestrings too. He wears black and white striped wristbands on both wrists. And finally, he has long brown hair with curled bangs behind his neck and has big blue pupils in his eyes.

His name was Maximus Quartz Kyochi, the son of formal Crystal Gem leader, Rose Quartz!

He ran over to an employee of the Big Donut, a young man named Lars. He looked lanky and somewhat taller than him and he wears tunnels in his stretched ear-lobes. He has curly, orange-brown hair styled into a sort of mohawk. His work uniform consists over a pale cream long-sleeved shirt in his purple T-shirt, which is displaying the Big Donut logo, and dark jeans with a hole.

"Lars, is this true?!" Said the boy with begging hands, which annoyed Lars to no end. "Leave me alone man, I'm stocking here." He replyed, making Max lower his head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry Max." Another employee at the counter, who was a short young woman spoke. "I guess they stopped making them." Sadie said. Her uniform consists of a periwinkle polo underneath a purple shirt, which is displaying the Big Donut logo. She also wears black leggings and pink-red shoes.

"Stopped making them? Why in the world would they stop making Cookie Cats?" Max complained. "They're like the most scrumptious and delicious ice cream sandwiches ever made." He said as Lars walked over to a nearby counter, carrying a box of food for stocking.

"Tough bits man, nobody buys them anymore. I guess they couldn't compete with Lion Lickers." He said as he grabbed a pack of nuts and jostled it to a much larger freezer before putting it on the shelve. It contents were misshapen Ice pops, meant to look like Lions

"Aw, seriously?" Max groaned, walking over to the Lion Lickers fridge. "Not Lion Lickers, I don't know anyone who likes them, and besides, they don't even look like Lions." He ranted. Lars then stood up and with a chuckle.

"Well, if you miss your wimpy ice cream so much, why don't you make some with your _magic chest._ " He remarked with a mocking tone that he finishes with and laughs. "That's not how it works you idiot!" Max angrily replied as he facepalms himself with a sigh.

Max walked back over to the Cookie Cat freezer. "Oh sweet Cookie Cats... I'll never forget your sweet taste." He closed his eyes as he lamented.

"Um.. Max?" Sadie called out to him as he looked over to her. "Do you want to take the freezer home with you." She asked. "Well, yeah, sure." Max nodded as he grabbed the freezer with ease and walked out of the store.

* * *

Max whistles to himself his song **(Nightwish-Élan)** as he walks towards a beach house with the Cookie Cat freezer strapped to his back. The beach house was also known as the Crystal Gem Temple. Above the house has a statue of a eight-armed woman with flowing hair, and a mask like object on her head. Max walked up the steps up to the door of the house part of the temple. He walks into the front door, not knowing about the chaos that was happening in the house.

"Hey guys, you not gonna believe this-" Max suddenly gets interrupted by a centipeetle attempting to attack him. "Whoa!"

The centipeetle was a large, green monster. Its eye was in its mouth and its gaping, jagged jaws were slobbering savagely. It pounced on top of Max, with him blocking the creature with his hands.

Suddenly, the Centipeetle was wrapped around by a whip. The user of the whip was a girl roughly shorter than Max, with white hair running down her back, wearing a purple shirt, with the right shoulder strap down a bit, revealing another black shoulder strap under it. The girl wore black pants with two stars on the knees, and wearing white shoes. She also had a purple gemstone on her chest. This girl is known as Amethyst.

"S'up Max." She greeted.

Amethyst then pulled the centipeetle back with her whip. There was another woman on a pad. This woman was slightly taller than Max. This woman's hair was pulled back and meeting with a point. She had a long nose, and a white gemstone on her forehead. The woman wore a blue skirt with a yellow star in the middle, red pants, and ballet shoes. This woman is known as Pearl.

Pearl used a spear to launch back multiple centipeetles. One, was launched back and caught by yet another woman. This woman had dark skin, big black hair in the shape of a square, a visor over her eyes, a black shirt with a red star near the middle, a mix of red and black on her pants, red shoulder pads, and two red gauntlets on her hands. The woman also had two red gemstones on the palm of her two hands. This woman is known as Garnet.

She grabbed the centipeetle and struck its back with her knee. Garnet then threw that centipeetle at another one. She then punched and launched back more centipeetles. One centipeetle jumped onto Garnet's hair, to which she grabbed and split in half. The centipeetle, pulled into two halves, then poofed away.

These three women were known as the Crystal Gems, aliens from a planet far out in the cosmos.

There were centipeetles all around the house, some even crawling onto the ceiling. "Whoa, what are these things?" Max asked, putting down the freezer. "Sorry Max," Pearl said, who was picking up a centipeetle. "we'll get these centipeetles out of your room. We think they were trying to get into the temple." The centipeetle than spat out green acid onto the floor. The green acid proved corrosive, as it burned through the wooden floor, creating a large hole in the floor.

One of them was launched back onto a wall by Amethyst's whip. It was then poofed away. Amethyst ran over to the where the creature poofed. "Um, you guys, these things don't have gems." Amethyst said, picking her nose. "That means there must be a mother somewhere nearby." Garnet said. A Centipeetle snuck up next to Garnet, to which Garnet punched.

"We should probably find it before anyone gets hurt." Pearl suggested. "Right, so what can I do to help?" Max agreed and wondered if he could actually go a real mission with his caretakers. "Max, until you learn to control the powers in your gem, we'll take care of protecting humanity." Pearl said, who then snapped the centipeetle's neck. "Okay?" "Aw man, okay." Max groaned.

He then noticed a nearby centipeetle looking into an open fridge. "What the? Hey! Get out of there!" Max shouted, who ran over to the centipeetle and tries to make it go away. "Go on. Shoo, shoo!" It ran from him as he turned to the fridge. "Oh come on, they got into everything." Max said, disappointingly. "Not cool you!" The centipeetle was stopped by Garnet, who then punched it, causing it to hit a wall and poof.

Max noticed that there something in the fridge, there were multiple wrappers of his own favorite ice cream treat he thought he would never see again, Cookie Cats! He had stars in his eyes.

"No way. It can't be!" Max exclaimed, grabbing a wrapped Cookie Cat. "Where did y'all get these?! I thought they stopped making them!" He asked as Pearl walked over to the fridge and closed the door. "Well, we heard that too, and since they're your favorite, we-" Pearl was then interrupted by Amethyst. "We went out and stole a bunch!" That made Pearl grunt. " _I_ went back and paid for them." Pearl said, folding her arms. Max chuckled.

"The whole thing was my idea." Said Garnet, who unsummoned her gauntlets. "It was everyone's idea." Amethyst said. "Not really."

"All that matters is that Max is happy." Said Pearl.

He then began to rap.

 _"Ooooooh! He's a frozen treat with an all new taste,_

 _'cause he came to this planet from outer space._

 _A refugee of an interstellar war,_

 _but now he's at your local grocery store!_

 _Cookie Cat!_

 _He's a pet for your tummy!_

 _Cookie Cat!_

 _He's super duper yummy!_

 _Cookie Cat!_

 _He left his family behind!_

 _Cookie Caaaat!_

 _Now available at Gurgin's off Route 109!"_

He murmurs at the end as the gems laughed at his usual awesome singing voice, and applauded, but for some reason, they feel like they would listen to him sing all day. "I can't believe y'all would do this." 'And if only there was a way to repay y'all back.' He thought. "I'm gonna save these as snacks." Max paused, looking at the Cookie Cat in his hand. He couldn't help it but he really wanted to eat one. "Right after this one." He opens the wrapper that was between him and the frozen treat. "Ahh yes." He sighed.

Max then takes a bite into the Cookie Cat, starting from the ears. "Mmm!" He mumbled. But what Max didn't notice was that his gem was glowing a pink aura through his shirt and jackets. The Gems looked at his glowing gem in astonishment.. "Uh, Max..." Amethyst started. "Wha?" He said, puzzled as he lifted his shirt and jackets, revealing his now glowing gem. "*GASP* My gem!" He says, sounding both amazed and confused as he jumped back a little, surprized and unsure of what to do. "What do I do?!" He asked frantically. Amethyst is the first to respond, naturally. "Quick Max! Try to summon your weapon!""But I don't know how!" The half-Gem boy replies, now panicking as the pink aura started to fade away, making him became increasingly worried. "Ah! It's fading! How do I make it come back?!" He asked, but then he slapped himself in order to calm down. "Okay, calm down Max. Deep breaths, don't force it." He said as he proceeded to do so. The glow then finally disappeared. This is met with a collective and relieved sigh from everyone.

"Ugh, I was really _close_ that time." Max grunted, clearly upset that he didn't had the chance to summon his own weapon. "Wait a minute," He then thought of an idea with a snap of his fingers. "can't one of you just _explain_ how to summon a weapon?" He asked. Pearl perks up immediately, smiling widely. "Oh, I'll go first~!" She says in a sing-song voice. The Gem then grabs Max's hand and leads him out of the house. The door shuts and the remaining teammates look at each other.

"Oh boy," Amethyst sighs as she shakes her head. "she's gonna tell him the _'petal thing'_."

* * *

Throughout the entire day, Max had been told different variations about how he would need to summon his own weapon. And so far, they were all not understandable to him. Right now, Max sat cross-legged on the bed in his room, staring down at the gem in his chest and thinking about the various and conflicting lessons he had received from each of the Crystal Gems.

Individually, the Gem's concepts were complicated enough;

 _'Master the magical properties of your gem and dance like these petals.'_

 _'Whenever I need to summon my weapon out of my gem, it just happens.'_

 _'Link your mind with the energy of all existing matter, channel the collective power of the universe through your gem.'_

But when put together the teachings only became more confusing, like how exactly is someone supposed to try very hard, and yet not try at all? Not to mention somehow finding out how to 'link his mind with all existing matter' as well.

Really, the only common concept between the lessons was that they all mentioned the word 'gem'.

Max huffed in frustration and flopped onto his back with hands on his face, forming a double-facepalm.

"What if I'm never going to learn how to summon my weapon." Max moaned as he stared into the ceiling. "Why is all this Gem stuff so complicated? Why the hell can't it just be simple for once?!"

For what seemed like forever, the longer he thinks about the Gems' ways along with his memories of them, the more sense it's starting to make!

'Maybe there's a correlation between the Gems and the way they summon their weapon! But.. what?' He took Pearl for instance.

"Hmm, she's very dedicated to doing things, like cleaning the house or even fighting monsters, and she says how I should always try my hardest to do things and never leave something half-done. I probably don't think that's right entirely, but it's the closest I got. And the way she uses her spear, it's too fragile to just smack someone with it. And when she attacks something, its usually at its weakest point since the spear is such an exact.. weapon..." Realization dawned on Max's eyes. "Just like Pearl!" He said in surprise at the end. He then thought about the other Gems and their weapons as well.

"Amethyst... she summons her weapon by not trying or thinking about it at all. Just like how she does really tough things with no problem, or how she doesn't need a plan to do it! Her whip…it can hit a lot of things at once, but can also be careful, like how she grabbed that centipeetle when it attacked me. And when she's not using it, it kind of just... lays around..." Realization hit him again. "Just like Amethyst!"

"And Garnet... her weapons are big, tough, and strong, just like her! And she links her energy to the universe because.. um..." Max trailed off, not sure where he was going with that. He puts his two fingers from both his hands on his head and squeezes his eyes shut in concentration. "Because…" He then stops himself from thinking too hard as it was probably something secret or mysterious that she doesn't tell anyone about.

But he gets it now though, the Gems have different ways of summoning their weapons because they have different personalities. And their weapons _also_ have something to do with their personalities!

"I know just what to do now!"

Just as he ran to tell his caretakers how he would summon his weapon, when suddenly, a rumbling could be felt coming from outside. The Gems ran and saw a shadow from the window of a centipeetle, but much bigger than the others. "What was that?" Max asked as they all ran onto the porch. "It's the mother!" Garnet shouted as she leaps after the Mother Centipeetle. "Stay in the house Max!" Pearl ordered the boy, but he refused. "No, I'm coming too!"

Garnet kicked the mother in the face, but was forced to retreat when the Mother lunged at her. She landed on the roof and jumped of it, to the beach below. Amethyst and Pearl joined at her side, ready for battle.

It released a screech as it shoots acid at the Gems. They all dodge out of the way. They all run to hide behind a hand, a broken piece of the Temple part of the temple. The Mother notices their retreat and spouts acid at the stone, melting it. "We could really use something useful like a shield right now!" Amethyst complains.

The spewing stops as a rock hits the mother on the side of it's head. "Hey!" Max called out, making the mother turn to face the boy. "Leave them alone!" He yells with his arms crossed. "Max, NO!" All three of his guardians called, but he ignored them.

"Come on over here!" He shouted as he started to run from it, as if he wanted it to follow him. The mother then lunged forward at the boy, snapping it's jaws, but the process resulted in missing.

"We have to save Maximus!" Pearl said as she ducks from the mother chomping the finger from the hand off. "Can we save ourselves first?!" Amethyst yelled.

Another spray of acid shot towards the gems, Max needed to summon his weapon, and quick. But he couldn't keep it there forever, he had to turn the centipeedle away from the gems so that they could summon their weapons and defeat it.

"Hey you, over here!" Max yelled from behind it, it shot a spray of acid at him as he dodged, ready to summon his weapon if needed. The gems summoned their weapons, not noticing the sprays of acid coming towards them, Pearl noticed first and yelped, flinching back. Max cut in front of it as he now focused on summoning his very own weapon to protect his loved ones. His gem glowed very brightly as he reached into his shirt and jackets to grab what's inside it.

In a flash, a pink spiral shield was summoned out of his chest! Everyone's eyes widened in astonishment. Pearl was the first to speak.

"Max... It's a shield!" She cried as Max grinned.

"I... Yes! I did it! Woo hoo!" He cheered as acid beat back against the shield and straight at the centipeedle. It was sent back flying, paralyzed before landing on the ground for a few seconds and then coming back up.

"Gems, Weapons." Garnet commanded. They all summoned their weapons and blew away the rest of the hand rock. "Let's do it!" The gems shot straight at the centipeedle. Garnet punched it with her gauntlets, sending it back giving Pearl enough time to hit it in the eye, Amethyst whipped it back towards Garnet as she punched it several more times, before Pearl sent the final blow to it in the back. A green core fell to the ground, it was a standard orb. Garnet put two fingers on it and encased it in a pink bubble. She tapped the bubble, sending it to the temple.

The air was silent for a moment as the Gems turned to their savior, who was on the ground with his arms wrapped around his knees while sniffling a little. What would the Gems think of when he almost got killed by a gem monster?

"Are you crying?" Amethyst asked when she walked over to him. 'Well, maybe..' Max said, not turning to face her nor the others as they also came over.

Pearl then suddenly hugged him, which caught Max off-guard. "Huh? Wait, you guys aren't mad that I acted selfish?" Pearl then let of the embrace to face him. "Of course not. That was a very brave act for saving us back there." Pearl said, maybe he really was like Rose after all.

"Max, that was nuts! But good job saving us!" Amethyst said, punching him in the arm playfully, causing him to chuckle. "Yeah.. I guess I did. Thanks." He smiled at them, wiping away the only few tears away he had. They really _did_ had faith in him.

"Good job little man!" Amethyst cheered Max on.

"You really are a Crystal Gem." Garnet smiled when she came up behind him and ruffled his hair, causing him to grin. Then his stomach rumbled as moaned in pain a little bit. "Heh, looks like I ate too many Cookie Cats huh?" He said as the laughed it off.

For rest of the day, they relaxed as the Gems knew who they were going to thank whenever they are near a certain death.

 **END OF CHAPTER**


	2. Laser Light Cannon

**_DISCLAIMER: This is a non profit fan-made parody story. I do not own *Steven Universe*, it is owned and copyrighted to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. Please support the official release._**

* * *

Laser Light Cannon

It was nearly sunset and Max ran towards the Beach Citywalk Fries store, the local french fry shop of Beach City, with Amethyst behind him.

"Hey Fryman, I'll take two bags of medium fries please." Max ordered. "Well, we were just about to close, so these will be the last fries served today." said Mr. Fryman, owner of Beach Citywalk Fries and father of two boys.

Fryman lifted the grease trap from the fry grill and dumped them into two separate bags. He then walked to the counter with the two bags and gave them to Max and Amethyst.

"Here you go." Fryman said as he gave them to the sibling-like friends.

"Thanks." Max thanked as he waved to him and walked away from the fry shop. When he gave one bag to Amethyst, the two were eating their fries before Max spoke.

"Ya know, I've just noticed something, what's that weird thing in the sky?" He said while looking up at the sky. "What do you mean?" Amethyst asked. "Well the sun set an hour ago, but now it's like there's another sun in the sky now. See?" He pointed towards the thing in the sky. Once Amethyst saw it, she let out a gasp. "Oh yeah, now I see it-*gasp*!" She said as she now got a closer look at it. "Oh no, what is _that_ doing here?"

"What is it?" Max asked.

Suddenly, Amethyst dropped her bag of fries and lifted up Max, causing him to drop his bag as well, and then ran in the direction of the beach.

"Hey! My fries!" Cried the boy.

* * *

Back at the temple was Pearl looking through a telescope and Garnet standing beside her.

"This is bad." Garnet said. "Look at the size of it, I had no idea these things were so big!" Pearl said in awe.

"Garnet! Pearl!" Amethyst shouted as she was still holding the human and running to the other Gems. Pearl turned around to Amethyst and Max with a grim expression.

"We saw. _Some_ of us are trying to protect humanity. Where were you?" Pearl asked. Amethyst placed him onto the ground. "Eating fries." She simply answered, causing Pearl to groan.

"Can I see?" Max asked, who looked into the telescope. The white figure in the sky opened up, revealing what looked like a giant red eyeball. "*gasp* What is that thing?" He asked astonishingly. "It's a Red Eye, Max." Pearl said. "It's going to crash into Beach City and crush us, along with a bunch of oblivious innocent people! We have to stop it!" Pearl said dramatically with her expressions.

"Well what are we going to do?" Max asked, clearly worried now.

"The only thing powerful enough to destroy it is a Light Cannon that belonged to Rose Quartz." Garnet said who shifted her shades. The name definitely caught the Half-Gem's attention. "My.. mom?" Max said. "If Rose were here, this would be so easy." Amethyst groaned. "I know, but she's not, and the cannon is missing. We'll have to find another solution." Pearl said.

"Well, if there was a place that was last seen by anyone, I'm pretty sure it had to be with my uncle. Huh?" Max theorized, all eyes on him now. Pearl then cleared her throat. "Your uncle is...nice, Max, but I doubt Rose would entrust someone like him with such a powerful weapon." Pearl said, but Max, of course, didn't believe so.

"What? No, I'm pretty sure he's just keeping it somewhere safe. Let me just go ask him." Max said as he was about to walk off. But he cut off by the Gem leader.

"We can handle this Max." She said. "Ready?" She asked Amethyst, who nodded. Garnet then lifted her up and leaped into the air, spun around, and threw her in the direction of the Red Eye.

Amethyst screamed as she got farther away and was speeding toward the Red Eye.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!"

 ***gong***

There was no damage done to it. Max and Pearl winced and hissed sympathetically as she peeled off the Red Eye and fell into the ocean.

"Uh, I'm gonna go." Max says after a moment later. "Okay, good luck." Pearl waved with worry as he left to go find this cannon.

* * *

Max was knocking on the door of his uncle's house hurriedly.

After the death of his brother and divorce with his wife, John decided to moved to a new house in town. When he met Rose, he had applied for a job as a private security guard for the mayor of Beach City, but now, he has his own car-washing business.

"Hey Uncle, it's me!" Max exclaimed, who rang the doorbell once and then knocking on the door, "Uncle, are you home? Come on, this is an emergency!." The door then opened, revealing the man. John was twenty-seven year old, has thinning brown hair, wears glasses, a light grass green collar T-shirt, short white khaki pants, and brown boots.

"Max?" He said, shifting his glasses. "It is you." They then greeted each other with hugs. "So what are you doing here so late?" He asked.

"What do you mean? The sun just went down an hour ago." Max answered.

"Oh. It was a slow day at the car-wash." He said honestly, rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed in embarrassment. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Just needed to see your uncle? Learn some lessons about life?" He asked his nephew.

"No, look, I need the laser light cannon that belonged to Rose, to destroy that Red Eye." Max said. He called his mother by her name because that really wasn't much of a bother to him, considering the fact that he didn't get to know his mother at all.

"Red Eye?" John wondered, scratching the back of his head. "That." Said Max, pointing up to the Red Eye in the sky. John saw the impending doom hovering over the horizon as he also watched Amethyst being thrown again, hitting the Red Eye, still not leaving a scratch, and falling to the ocean.

"Wait, is this some kind of magical thing? The Gems told me not to get involved with magic stuff. It's always dangerous." He pointed out.

"But they need her cannon, you've gotta know where it is." Max pleaded as his uncle closes the door behind him and smiles.

"Well then, I think I know exactly where it is."

* * *

They walk towards a storage shed John owns for his unused stuff, and Max runs towards it.

"A storage unit?" Said Max. "Yeah, my house's basement is so small, I can hardly fit anything there, so I store most of my things in there. If that light cannon's anywhere, it'll be in there." He explained. 'Heh, well _that_ makes sense.' Max thought, smiling and rolling his eyes.

John opened up the storage shed to reveal a lot of cluttered things. "Wow, I didn't know you have that much stuff in here." Max said wide-eyed a little. "Yeah, I think I should sell some of this stuff." John scratched his chin. "You _think_?" He said as they both laughed it off.

Upon further inspection of the shed's insides, Max figured that it might be hard to see under all those boxes and stuff. "Huh, this looks too dark. Can I borrow a flashlight?" He asked. "Oh sure." The uncle said as he grabbed a flashlight at the entrance and gave it to Max. "Thanks." He said as he turned on the flashlight and started crawling through a maze of boxes.

Having found an open enough area, he got to his feet and navigated through all of the garbage. He squeezed through what may have been the various layers of a spring mattress, something caught his eye. "Is this it?" He said to himself as he struggled to pick the strange object up, only to realize that it was actually a set of golf-clubs.

"Wait, Uncle, do you play golf?" Max asked loud enough for his uncle on the side to hear. "Oh did I never tell you? I use to be a member of a nearby country club. I go there when I have nothing else to do." He shouted, despite the mess blocking the sound. Max then moved on

"Oh, is this it?" He then saw another object and flashed his light. Only to find a drum. "Oh, that's a drum." He said, who couldn't help gave the top a small tap before continuing.

At one point, he stumbled over a cardboard box filled with CDs that use to belong to his father. "Hey Uncle, I found Dad's old CDs!"

John chuckled as he remembered all the fun times he had in Beach City with brother. "Aw man, I just couldn't give those things away. Back when your old man was a solo performer, and before I ran a car-wash, he played those right here in Beach City." He said with nostalgia washing over him. "Yes Uncle, I know." Max pretended to be exasperated as he's already been told that dozens of times before, but he still loved hearing stories about the past. He took one of the CDs and slipped in his pocket. 'Maybe I'll play it later sometime when the Gems weren't around.'

"He played all the time, and no one stopped to listen. Until your mother, that is. And they were always together, until she gave up her physical form to bring you to the world. I just don't know what a tough-as-nails woman like her ever saw in a plain old dope like him." John chuckled.

There was a crack as Max accidentally stepped his weight on a picture frame. He raised his hand to see a picture of his dad next to a curly pink-haired woman who must have been Rose Quartz. She was nudged her shoulder against her back-then boyfriend, smiling.

"Uh oh, I broke a photo!" "Heh, it's okay, bud." John called, ever cheerful. _"If every chicken were perfect, we wouldn't have pizza!"_

And that was when a glow lit up the shed. "Huh?" Max could clearly see the object emitting the light, half-buried under a pile of boxes. "It's the light cannon!" He pushed the junk out of his way as the glow faded. It was a a large, pink, cannon, (basically), made up of a crystalline material. It looked bulky, extremely heavy, and was considerably durable.

Meanwhile outside, John was staring at the eye as if it was seemingly staring back at him! "Oh boy, that thing is creepy as hell.." John muttered.

"Uncle, I found it!" Max shouted from inside the storage shed. "Really?!" John called. "Yeah!" His nephew replied. "But how are we gonna get it out of the storage shed?" John asked.

Max pondered for a moment, trying to think of something. A light bulb then lit up in his head. "I got it!" He exclaimed. He then crawled back out from everything in the storage. "Stay here while I get the Gems!" He said to his uncle, who nodded in approval. He ran back to the direction of the back.

* * *

Max was running to the Gems as Amethyst washed up on the shore again.

"Throw me again, I think I'm cracking it." She said as she then spotted Max running over to them. "Guys! Guys!" He shouted, catching their attention. "What is it Max?" Pearl asked. "I found the light cannon!" He said, surprising the Gems. "Really?" Pearl asked, shocked.

"Yeah, come on! I need you guys to help me and my uncle get it here!" Max said frantically, and then looked towards the Red Eye only to notice that it was getting bigger than before.

"Alright. Let's go." Garnet ordered.

Five minutes later, Max and the Gems arrive at the storage shed. Once they were there, Pearl immediately asked, "Alright, now where's the light cannon?" "It's in there." Max pointed towards the storage. "Whoa, that shed is a mess." Amethyst pointed out. "Oh hey, you're here." John said, noticing their presence.

"So the light cannon's in there?" Pearl asked. "Yeah." John replied. "Alright, let's carry it out of there and to the temple." Garnet suggested.

The Gems navigated through the maze of boxes in the shed and soon found the light cannon. Once they saw it, Pearl gasped. "He really had it." She said. "We're saved!" Amethyst exclaimed. "Alright Gems, let's get it out of here." Garnet ordered.

The Gems lifted up the Light Cannon with all their strength and carried it out of the storage shed. And surprisingly, they had not broke or moved a single thing. "Alright, let's get it to the temple." Garnet said, still helping to carry the light cannon.

John saw that the Red Eye was getting even bigger. "I can't tell if either that thing's getting bigger or coming closer!" He panicked. "That's why we need to get it to the temple as soon as possible." Garnet said.

* * *

The Gems were still carrying the light cannon while the guys followed in pursuit. They then placed the cannon onto the sand. "Alright, no time to lose Gems! Let's fire it!" Garnet said.

Just then, the Red Eye started to create a growing gravitational pull. Grains of sand, power lines, even the Beach Citywalk Fries sign were pulled and fell.

"We have to use it now!" Garnet shouted.

"I don't know how it works, it was Rose's!" Pearl said.

"Uncle, do you know how we use it?!" Max asked him.

"I don't know! I never even _seen_ this thing in my life!" John panicked.

"Max, this is serious!" Pearl told the boy, but then she realized the gem on his chest. "The gem, you have Rose's gem!" Max unzipped his jacket and pulled down his shirt collar to reveal his gem and wondered what good that will do in saving the planet.

"That's it!" Amethyst said as she then lifted his body to drag his chest up and down on the cannon. "Ugh, come on!" The purple gem grunted.

"Amethyst, stop it! I'm pretty sure there's another way." Max shouted as Garnet ordered her to as she obliged. "It's no use." Pearl said. "Fine, forget it. Throw me again." Amethyst suggested. "That's not going to work!" Pearl argued.

Max thought back to how he found the light cannon in first place. His uncle said his catchphrase whenever he felt upset.

 _'_ _If every chicken were perfect, we wouldn't have pizza!'_

Max then had a bright idea!

"Everyone, it's okay." Everyone turned to face him. _"I_ _f every chicken were perfect, we wouldn't have pizza!"_ He said with a grin. They were all confused at first, but then the light cannon started to glow a pink aura. It started blooming like an actual rose!

"It's working!" Pearl said, amazed.

The light cannon's barrel fell onto the sand. Everyone gasped as Max tried with all his strength to lift it back up. He struggles to carry the heavy thing above him "No, no, no!- huh?" He noticed the work was relieved by the Gems who were helping him lift it up.

"This is it!" Amethyst.

"Brace yourselves!" Garnet shouted as the cannon charged up more by the second. John immediately took cover on the ground and prepared for what was about to happen next.

*BOOM*

The light cannon shot a pink laser beam, which turned into a female silhouette. The beam hit the Red Eye, causing it to crack and then exploded in a giant ball of flame, the pieces of it were falling all around. Some pieces fell onto the sandy shore, some in the water, and some even hitting the roads of the town. Luckily, no one nor thing got hurt, except for the property of the Beach City folk, including Mr. Fryman's shop.

Amethyst just felt like hugging the life out of the boy right now, so she did. Max struggled to breathe for a moment before she let go, blushing. She wished she could hold on to him forever...

"That was AWESOME Max, you just saved _most_ of Beach City!" Amethyst exclaimed. Max took a short glance around the town before feeling guilty. "Oops, heh heh..." He chuckled nervously before Pearl glanced over at the hybrid boy.

"How did you get it to work?" He asked him. Max just smiled. "It's what uncle always says to me whenever I'm feeling down." He glanced over to see John, only to see him looking up to where the Red Eye was with tears in his eyes.

"Rose…" He smiled as a tear dropped from his face.

He walked over to Max and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Great job, boy." He said. "If Rose and your father could see you now, she'd be very proud."

Max smiled with tears also in his eyes.

"Thanks Uncle." He said as they hugged each other. The Gems smiled at the scene.

 **END OF CHAPTER**


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